Frank Lesher

Egypt and the Pyramids

Red Sea, January 1, 1909

Lat 22 35’N. Long 36 33’E

Dear Papa,

Two more days and we will be at Suez, which is closer home than we have been for some time. I am reading up on the Pyramids in anticipation of the trip, which I will go on from that point.

The day has been a very quiet one, although this morning as the New Year was coming in a lot of the fellows went around over the ship beating drums and blowing bugles. The day was observed as a holiday.

This evening we put on blue clothes for the first time since leaving Japan, and they feel quite comfortable.

The Red Sea is just about the same as any other body of salt water, blue and salty. When we first entered the straits we got a glimpse of the African shore, and on the second night I saw a light burning in some humble home along the hilly African coast.

There is not a day goes by but what we pass from three to six steamers, the Red Sea averages in width about two hundred miles, which accounts for the seeing and passing of so many ships.

As Always Frank

A view of the Virginia forecastle while in Port Said

January 4, 1909

At Sea enroute to Beirut

January 7^th, 1909

Dear Father,

Received your letter of December 8^th at Suez and the one of December 16^th at Port Said, upon my return from Cairo. Received the papers and magazines but not the Congressional Record as yet. Hope you have received my Amoy and Manila letter by this time.

The fleet is due in Hampton Roads about the twentieth of Feb and will stay for the review and probably several days more then each ship goes to its navy yard, the Virginia I suppose to Norfolk, and remains there until the Fifteenth of May, when we again assemble for drills of different descriptions.

We get furloughs while we are at the Navy Yard. Note what you say about stopping at the Hotel back of the Chamberlin, think it would be a good place to stay if you come down for the Review. If you do not come down I will get you to send me a trunk by express, empty, and I will put my trinkets in it and bring it home when I come on my furlough. I can get them in a steamer trunk.

As you will have no doubt learned by the time that you receive this letter our schedule has been changed and we are going to Beirut and then to Smyrna. I am going to try and get up to Damascus while we are at Beirut.

The cabinet photos above are part of a set that Frank purchased while on his trip to the Pyramids and Cairo. From the subjects of the photos these seem to be from the entire trip and were probably taken by the tour guide service that the fleet used. Above the Citadel and boats along the Nile.

It all seems like a sort of dream to me now that it is over with but never-the-less the cold fact remains that I have been to Cairo and have stood upon the Sahara Desert while the Pyramids built over forty centuries ago gazed down upon me.

A party of 150 of us from our ship together with the same number of men from seven other ships left Suez on Sunday the 3^rd of January at two thirty pm for Cairo. We had a beautiful, but at the same time a dusty ride over the desert to Cairo. Arriving there about eight o’clock in the evening. After enjoying a good dinner we turned in inorder to get a good nights sleep and be ready for the doings of the morrow.

Map of Cairo from a small booklet

We stayed at an unpretentious French hotel and had a nice clean hotel service. Will state at this point that you will only find one Englishman out of every twenty inhabitants the rest being French, Greek, Turkish or some other nationality.







		This set of views are part of a booklet that Frank Lesher brought back from Egypt. Though the inside is complete, the cover is missing.

In the morning I took a walk before breakfast and saw the milkman drive his cow up to his customers door and milk the required amount out into a measure while he waited. There surely was no donkeys around with their packs of vegetables on their backs and selling a measure here and there to the thirsty traveler.

The trolley line which goes to the Pyramids goes does not commence until you cross the Nile, so accordingly we drove through a beautiful part of the city and across the bridge which spans this most wonderful stream. At the other side we took the tram cars and were carried through the most fertile valley that I have ever gazed upon. The line follows a most beautiful drive called the Pyramid Road Line on both sides with stately trees, on both sides of the Road could be seen the rich black loam deposited by the might river when it overruns its banks and gives to Egypt food for its many inhabitants.

Egypt of all the countries which I have so far visited, is the least advanced of any along the lines of modern inventions and improvements. Her in the Nile valley was to be seen a camel yoked to an ox, dragging a wooden plow like the sort that was used a thousand years ago. An ox hitched to a round wooden geared wheel which in turn was geared to another wheel, set at right angels to the first one, and to which was attached a belt to which earthen jars were fastened. The ox walked round and round turning the first wheel which in turn make the second one revolve and raised the water from the ditches to be put upon the fields. Camel trains could be seen winding their way out towards the desert to begin their journey a cross the endless desert waste, and many other wonderful and interesting sights which space will not permit me to mention.

After a ride of about eight miles we arrived at the Pyramids situated on the edge of the desert, and built over five thousand years ago, by one of the most wonderful kings who ever ruled the race of man. The big one covers an area of thirteen acres and is four hundred and fifty feet in height. I did not climb to the top as my time was limited but I made the tip in through the North entrance and into the chambers of the King and Queen. It would take pages to describe the way that my guide led me in through the passages and to the two chambers. The passages are about four by four feet and built on an angle which is quite steep, the steps cut in the rocks being worn slippery by the tramping of thousands of people over them. The most wonderful of the two chambers is that of Cheops situated two hundred feet above the outside level of the pyramid. It is about twenty by forty feet in size, the top gradually tapering to a point at the top.

It is faced with blocks of granite of enormous size, many of them being five by five by eighteen feet in end of the chamber is to be seen the empty sarcophagus with part of one side broken out, the body having been sent to the British Museum at London.

A small clay sphinx souvinor brought back by Frank

Candles are the only lights used and the effect produced by the guide carrying the candles and you stumbling along the Big Pyramid it is a walk of about a quarter of a mile to the Sphinx. That mammoth face mounted on a lions body and gazing trans-fixedly towards the East. The sands of the desert are gradually blowing in and burying both the pyramids and the Sphinx and it remains but a question of time, when the level will be much higher than it is at the present if something is not soon done to dig it out from the bases of the Pyramids and Sphinx.

At the base of the Big Pyramid a man by the name of Covington lives in a round canvas tent. He comes from the original Covington family of the above mentioned name in Covington, KY. He is sort of an eccentric sort of a chap and the Pyramids are his hobby, he has spent almost his whole fortune on research, and has done good work in discovering air passages and other things concerning the piles of Limestone and Granite. He has a small American Flag floating from the top of his tent. A man standing nearby told us that he was an American, so several of us went over to call on him. He treated us royally, and gave us a very interesting talk, of course everything being about the pyramids. He alone on top of the great pyramid watched the old century out and the new one in 99-00. He said, “Who will do that feat in 100 years to come.” Showed us the only American Flag that ever waved from the top of the Great Pyramid, and he takes great pride in it. He said he was awfully sorry that we did not stop in and see him on our way up as we would have taken us in the pyramid and given us a lecture on the sights to be seen. From all appearances he seems to be a perfect gentleman, but he has his mind constantly on his work of exploration and investigation. He has been robbed three times by the natives who frequent the place.

Visited the Citadel and Mosque of Mohammed Ali. These tow famous places occupy the highest point of ground surrounding Cairo and from the top of the Citadel a magnificent view can be obtained of the city and desert. Far off in the outskirts of the city can be seen the remains of the aqueduct built by the Romans to cnvey water from the Nile to the fortress during their occupation of Egypt. As you enter the gates of fortress you can plainly see the holes in the immense iron bound doors made by the cannon of Napoleon, in his conquest of the World. When he marched his soldiers out on the plains and told his men that forty centuries were gazing down upon them. Meaning of course the Pyramids.

A photograph from the pyramids

The Mosque of Mohammed Ali, is a most magnificent one, the columns and sides of the interior being all of alabaster, its domed ceiling rising to a great height. The direction of Mecca is marked by a semi-circle in the wall, on each side of which Mosque can find Mecca by following round the wall until he comes to the pillars. At present there are about three thousand British soldiers quartered at the Citadel. The Museum one of the most interesting sights to be seen was closed owing to it being the Egypt or rather Mohammeden holidays. Today is the first day of their New-Year.

Shepherds Hotel and the others of Cairo became familiar sights to me in my journeying around through the city. Sent you an English Cairo paper for a week, so it will give you an idea as to how things are run in Egypt.

At Right: A tramway ticket from Cairo

I stayed in Cairo until Tuesday night and then came down to Port Said where I stayed over-night at the Eastern Exchange Hotel the largest one in Port Said. Paid three shillings for a fine room. Came back to the ship Wednesday morning and helped put on board fifteen hundred tons of coal.

Many interesting sights are to be seen at Port Said, people from all parts of the world, the natives coaling the ships, the canal companies office, the statue of De’Lessops the builder of the ditch, and last but not least the ships of all nations passing through.

Will answer Mother’s letter later on.

Affectionately Frank

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